There are many contributors to academic success. While a good portion of it is the effort that you put into your studies and paying attention in class, a lot of it also comes from outside influences. Family and friends are two things that can have a great impact on how a person performs in school. While I have a very supportive family who always pushed me to do my best, others were not as fortunate. But everyone has their own personal hardships that can distract them from their studies, mine was my friends. Friends should always be there for you and support you no matter what happens, but this was not so simple for me in high school.
Where I live, it is very difficult to make friends. The kids at my high school are not very friendly or willing to branch out of their own friend groups. We were known for having snotty, stuck up, rich kids. My best friend moved away after my freshman year and I didn't have many other friends. Most people at my school already had friend groups and weren't willing to make new friends. I did try to talk to new people in my classes and sit with new people at lunch, but I was never able to make friends that I could hang out with outside of school. I just had acquaintances. I joined sports and dance classes so that I was able to meet more people, and I got a job that helped a lot because so many kids from my school worked there.
By sophomore year I had one good friend from ballet, Anna, who I also worked with, and I had a boyfriend who I hung out with all the time, Nick. He would call me and ask for rides all the time because he didn't have a license and neither did any of his friends. I was constantly doing things for Nick and carting him and his friends around. I spent so much time with him and his friends that I neglected my one girl friend who I was close to. I was convinced that Nick's friends were my friends too, and that I finally had a social life and I was so excited I would drop anything for the chance to hang out with them. Naturally, when he broke up with me I was left with nothing. I didn't have Anna anymore because I had stopped hanging out with her to spend more time with my boyfriend, and none of his friends wanted to hang out with me once we weren't dating anymore. I fell back into my pattern of going home right after school to do my homework.
I worked better when I didn't have friends to distract me or take up my time. While sometimes it was depressing when I would have no one to spend my time with or everyone was being mean and unfriendly, I never let it overwhelm me so much that I couldn't do my work. Some days I would be so sad that I couldn't focus. I knew that if I let that feeling get to me, my work would never get done, and other than my family, my work was all I really had. Over time I did make a few good friends who were also very smart people. This helped so that we could all study together and we never spent too much time hanging out because we would always leave enough time to get our work done. This made me feel a lot better to have people around that I could talk to if I needed to or hang out with on the weekends.
I did well in school because I spent a lot of my time studying and getting my homework done early. I took a variety of challenging courses as well as classes that interested me. When it came time to apply to college though I was very stressed. By this time I had my friends who were in the grade below and didn't understand the pressure that I was going through. They were not very supportive during this process. I would be overloaded with homework and college applications and supplements and scholarship applications with my mom always on my back about getting everything done on time. I tried my hardest to work my friends into my busy schedule because I knew I didn't want to lose them like I had lost previous friends from neglect. But it didn't seem to matter much to them whether or not they stayed my friends. While I felt like time was ticking away until I would leave for college and not be able to see them anymore, they couldn't care less. They took my attempts to hang out as cries for attention and resented me for it. Even the classes we had together became uncomfortable and awkward to be in. I focused on my work, but at that point, I really just needed my friends, and they weren't there for me.
Fortunately, I always had my family to help me through things. I was lucky to have such supportive parents that were always concerned for me and I knew that I could always talk to them if I needed to. They were always on my side, which was what I really needed to get through high school at certain times. They encouraged me to do my best in school and to push myself academically. They always reassured me that college was right around the corner and that soon I would have a new opportunity to make actual nice, caring friends. I am so grateful to them for getting me through high school while I'll never be able to say the same thing about any of my friends or peers.
Throughout high school, I learned not to try not to rely on people very much. I always put what was most important first, and that was school work. While I was never very happy at my high school socially, I never let it affect my academic performance. My family supported me throughout my entire high school career and helped me to do very well in school despite my struggle to make friends. I did very well in high school. My grades and AP test scores gave me enough credit to graduate college a year early if I choose to do so. I do not regret one bit the time I spent on my school work. But I know that I will always be there for my friends, unlike they were towards me.
There are many contributors to academic success. While a good portion of it is the effort that you put into your studies and paying attention in class, a lot of it also comes from outside influences. Family and friends are two things that can have a great impact on how a person performs in school. While I have a very supportive family who always pushed me to do my best, others were not as fortunate. But everyone has their own personal hardships that can distract them from their studies, mine was my friends. Friends should always be there for you and support you no matter what happens, but this was not so simple for me in high school.Where I live, it is very difficult to make friends. The kids at my high school are not very friendly or willing to branch out of their own friend groups. We were known for having snotty, stuck up, rich kids. My best friend moved away after my freshman year and I didn't have many other friends. Most people at my school already had friend groups and weren't willing to make new friends. I did try to talk to new people in my classes and sit with new people at lunch, but I was never able to make friends that I could hang out with outside of school. I just had acquaintances. I joined sports and dance classes so that I was able to meet more people, and I got a job that helped a lot because so many kids from my school worked there.
By sophomore year I had one good friend from ballet, Anna, who I also worked with, and I had a boyfriend who I hung out with all the time, Nick. He would call me and ask for rides all the time because he didn't have a license and neither did any of his friends. I was constantly doing things for Nick and carting him and his friends around. I spent so much time with him and his friends that I neglected my one girl friend who I was close to. I was convinced that Nick's friends were my friends too, and that I finally had a social life and I was so excited I would drop anything for the chance to hang out with them. Naturally, when he broke up with me I was left with nothing. I didn't have Anna anymore because I had stopped hanging out with her to spend more time with my boyfriend, and none of his friends wanted to hang out with me once we weren't dating anymore. I fell back into my pattern of going home right after school to do my homework.
I worked better when I didn't have friends to distract me or take up my time. While sometimes it was depressing when I would have no one to spend my time with or everyone was being mean and unfriendly, I never let it overwhelm me so much that I couldn't do my work. Some days I would be so sad that I couldn't focus. I knew that if I let that feeling get to me, my work would never get done, and other than my family, my work was all I really had. Over time I did make a few good friends who were also very smart people. This helped so that we could all study together and we never spent too much time hanging out because we would always leave enough time to get our work done. This made me feel a lot better to have people around that I could talk to if I needed to or hang out with on the weekends.
I did well in school because I spent a lot of my time studying and getting my homework done early. I took a variety of challenging courses as well as classes that interested me. When it came time to apply to college though I was very stressed. By this time I had my friends who were in the grade below and didn't understand the pressure that I was going through. They were not very supportive during this process. I would be overloaded with homework and college applications and supplements and scholarship applications with my mom always on my back about getting everything done on time. I tried my hardest to work my friends into my busy schedule because I knew I didn't want to lose them like I had lost previous friends from neglect. But it didn't seem to matter much to them whether or not they stayed my friends. While I felt like time was ticking away until I would leave for college and not be able to see them anymore, they couldn't care less. They took my attempts to hang out as cries for attention and resented me for it. Even the classes we had together became uncomfortable and awkward to be in. I focused on my work, but at that point, I really just needed my friends, and they weren't there for me.
Fortunately, I always had my family to help me through things. I was lucky to have such supportive parents that were always concerned for me and I knew that I could always talk to them if I needed to. They were always on my side, which was what I really needed to get through high school at certain times. They encouraged me to do my best in school and to push myself academically. They always reassured me that college was right around the corner and that soon I would have a new opportunity to make actual nice, caring friends. I am so grateful to them for getting me through high school while I'll never be able to say the same thing about any of my friends or peers.
Throughout high school, I learned not to try not to rely on people very much. I always put what was most important first, and that was school work. While I was never very happy at my high school socially, I never let it affect my academic performance. My family supported me throughout my entire high school career and helped me to do very well in school despite my struggle to make friends. I did very well in high school. My grades and AP test scores gave me enough credit to graduate college a year early if I choose to do so. I do not regret one bit the time I spent on my school work. But I know that I will always be there for my friends, unlike they were towards me.